To really appreciate what an amazing accomplishment it is for Joe Mays to be making his first start in a year-and-a-half you almost have to have spent some time around the guy.
I honestly have no idea what to expect, but I will say that I seriously never thought he’d make it back. Mays is one of the most high-strung, hyper-analytical players ever to wear a Twins uniform, which is really just a longhand way of saying that he’s a first-rate head case and a bit of a flake. He’s a worry wart, a nervous nellie, one of those guys whose mind always seems to be running a hundred miles an hour. His tongue might actually run faster than his mind, and sometimes, it seems, in entirely different directions; I’d for damn sure bet my money on the tongue in an endurance race.
Mays talks in rambling torrents, often with a faraway look in his eyes. I have a tape from one of his postgame starts a few years ago where he talked for almost twenty minutes without the slightest prompt or interuption for a question. It’s both fascinating and entertaining. I’ve often seen reporters drift away from his locker while he’s still in the middle of a monologue.
I can’t even begin to imagine how arduous and mentally taxing his long rehab must have been for a character with so much energy and such a natural inclination to doubt himself. Maybe the whole experience has made him somehow tougher and more patient. It’ll certainly be interesting to see how he holds up tonight. This is, after all, a man who cheerfully admitted to reporters the other night that he felt like he was going to piss his pants as he warmed up in the bullpen for his first appearance since 2003.
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